白鏡

In The White Mirror, the follow-up to Elsa Hart’s critically acclaimed debut, Jade Dragon Mountain, Li Du, an imperial librarian and former exile in 18th century China, is now an independent traveler. He is journeying with a trade caravan bound for Lhasa when a detour brings them to a valley hidden between mountain passes. On the icy planks of a wooden bridge, a monk sits in contemplation. Closer inspection reveals that the monk is dead, apparently of a self-inflicted wound. His robes are rent, revealing a strange symbol painted on his chest.

When the rain turns to snow, the caravan is forced to seek hospitality from the local lord while they wait for the storm to pass. The dead monk, Li Du soon learns, was a reclusive painter. According to the family, his bizarre suicide is not surprising, given his obsession with the demon world. But Li Du is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why did the caravan leader detour to this particular valley? Why does the lord’s heir sleep in the barn like a servant? And who is the mysterious woman traveling through the mountain wilds?

Trapped in the snow, surrounded by secrets and an unexplained grief that haunts the manor, Li Du cannot distract himself from memories he’s tried to leave behind. As he discovers irrefutable evidence of the painter’s murder and pieces together the dark circumstances of his death, Li Du must face the reason he will not go home and, ultimately, the reason why he must. ^[2] 

艾爾莎·哈特(Elsa Hart)的第一本推理小説《玉龍雪山》(Jade Dragon Mountain)出版後，那個發生在清朝康熙年間麗江古城的偵探推理故事大獲好評。主人公李杜在糟糕的風雪天裏繼續朝着大山深處行進，在小説續集中續寫精彩的故事。

據美國之音電台網站9月15日報道，這本《玉龍雪山》獲得了一些西方讀者的好評，在感受小説神秘與驚險的同時，也打開了通往中國古代歷史的大門。2016年9月，哈特推出了她的系列小説第二本《白鏡》(The White Mirror)。 ^[1] 

Elsa Hart was born in Rome, Italy, but her earliest memories are of Moscow, where her family lived until 1991. Since then she has lived in the Czech Republic, the U.S.A., and China. She earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. She wrote Jade Dragon Mountain in Lijiang, the city formerly known as Dayan. It is her first novel. ^[2]